Combined burglar lock and alarm



A. S. CUMMINGS. COMBINED BURGLAR LOCK AND ALARM.

APPLICATION FILED AUGJ. 1920. 1,387,594. Patented Aug. 16,1921.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

COMBINED BURGLAR LOCK AND ALARM.

Application filed August 7, 1920. Serial No.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ANDREW S, CUM- MINGS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Tacoma, in the county of Pierce and State of lVashington, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Combined Burglar Locks and Alarms, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to devices for preventing the unauthorized opening of doors, and particularly to certain improvements in the lock illustrated in Patent No. 1,283,635, granted on November 5, 1918.

In this patent is shown a combined burg lar lock and alarm comprising a body adapted to rest upon a floor or against the meeting rail of a window, said body being provided with upwardly inclined spikes or like members adapted at one end to engage the floor and at the other end engage a door so that when an attempt was made to push the door open, the spikes would be strongly forced into the floor and into the door and the door would be wedged or held against opening movement, this construction further showing a bell with a latch which, when the door was pushed open, released the bell sounding mechanism.

The object of the present invention is to improve upon the construction forming the subject matter of the prior patent above referred to by the provision of means whereby the spikes are made adjustable to suit inequalities in the floor or door, or inequalities in the meeting rails and side rails of window sashes, and to permit the device to be placed firmly in position.

And another object is to provide an alarm mechanism in which the bell itself forms the means whereby the spring of the alarm may be wound. I

Another object is to provide means whereby the alarm bell will be released and sounded upon pressure being applied to the door to force it open, and wherein the alarm will stop sounding when the pressure is relieved.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein igure 1 is a side elevation of a burglar lock constructed in accordance with my invention, part of the casing being broken ay;

* Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 16, 1921. 402,008.

Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section of the alarm shown in Fig. 1, showing the interior mechanism in elevation Fig. 3 is a vertical 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a top plan view msm with the upper plate 46 1g. 5 is a detail fragmentary section showing the tripping member in elevation; eferrmg to these drawings, 10 designates a casing generally which has a bottom wall 11 and oppositely disposed, approximately triangular walls 12 and 13, the top and ends of which are closed by plates 43, 45 and 46. One wall, as for instance the wall 12 of the casing, is cut away, as at 17, to accommodate the bell, as will be later described.

Mounted within the casing adjacent the wall 13 and parallel thereto but in spaced relation thereto is a supporting plate 18,

section on the line of the mechausual posts 21 and which support at their ends an angular the lower end of which is connected to the plate 18 by a yoke 24-. Supported in hearings in the plate 18 and in the angular plate 23 is a shaft 25, whose outer end carries screw-threaded upon it the bell 26 which projects through the opening 17 and is concentric thereto. Also mounted upon this shaft 25 is a gear wheel 27 and a ratchet wheel 28. The gear wheel 27 is loose upon the shaft and carries a pawl 29 engaging the ratchet wheel 28 and urged into engagement b a spring 30. This spring is attached to the gear wheel 27. Engaging the shaft 25 is a motor spring 31, one end of which is attached to the shaft and the other end of which is attached to the post 22. The gear wheel 27 engages with a lantern wheel 32 mounted upon a shaft 33 which carries a star escapement wheel 34, which is engaged by the anchor escapement pallet 35, this pallet being mounted upon a reciprocating shaft 36 carrying a radial arm 37 and a rearwardly and outwardly curved clapper arm 38, whose head is disposed within the bell 26.

It will be obvious now that when the alarm bell 26 is turned in a clockwise direction, the rotation of the shaft 25 will cause touch the door,

the spring to be wound up, the gear wheel 27 being held from movement and the pawl 29 engaging with the ratchet 28 to prevent a reverse movement of the shaft. When the ratchet mechanism hereafter to be described is released, however, it is obvious that the wound-up spring 31 will cause the reverse rotation of the shaft and, through the pawl, the reverse rotation of the gear wheel 27, which will communicate its mo tion to the shaft 33, and thus through the star wheel 34 will give an oscillation to the shaft 36, which will oscillate the arm 37 and the clapper of the bell.

Mounted within the housing 12 and eX- tending longitudinally thereof, and when in use extending at an inclination to the horizontal, are a pair of spikes 39 and i0. These spikes are made of rods or bars of stiff, strong metal, such as steel, the ends of these bars beingheveled, as at Ll. When this device is in use for the purpose of holding open a door, for instance, the device is disposed with the upper ends of these spikes bearing against or just touching the door, while the lower ends of the spikes bear against the floor. Now if an attempt be made to open the door, the spikes will be embedded in the door and the force exerted on the spikes will embed the lower ends of the spikes in the floor, thus preventing. the door being opened to any appreciable extent. Preferably these bars are slidingly mounted within the casing or housing by passing through slots 42 in an end plate a3, while at their lower ends these bars are disposed through open-ended slots 4.4: in an endplate l5. The cover d6 closes these slots l -l, as will be seen'from Fig. 2, so that these bars are guided within the slots but are sufficiently free therein to be shifted longitudinally in order to adjust the spikes with relation to the body or casing so that when thecasing is disposed infront of the door, the lower ends of the spikes will rest upon the floor or other support, while the upper ends of the spikes will merely By making these, spikes longitudinally adjustable within the casing, it is possible for the spikes to conform to any irregularity in the door or the floor so that they may be adjusted into a proper relation to the door and floor.

For the purpose of releasing the alarm in case an attempt is made to open the door, I provide a smal rod l7 which is slidingly mounted in the collar 20 on the arm 19 and in a-collar 2O also formed on this arm adjacent the base thereof. The lower end ofthe rod a7 is formed with a downwardly ex-. tending detent lug 48 which normally is disosed over the rearwardly extending arm 37 so that this arm cannot vibrate. A coiled spring e9 acts to urge this trigger rode? outward in such position that its lug 4:8 will come over the arm 37, but when an attempt is made to open the door, the movement of the door will cause the trigger rod 47 to be forced rearward until it releases the arm 37, whereupon the spring 31 will cause, through the clock mechanism heretofore described, the oscillation of shaft 36 which carries the clapper 38 and, of course, sounding the alarm. As soon as pressure on the door is relieved, however, the spring 49 will, of course, cause the projection of the trigger rod back to its normal position and over the arm 37 thus preventing any further sounding of the alarm. Preferablythe plate 46 has its margins formed with inwardly turned flanges 50 to engage over outwardly turned flanges on the side plates so that this plate may he slid into position, and the same is true of the end plates 41 and 43. This permits the casing to be opened so that the mechanism within the interior of the casing may be adjusted or repaired at any time.

In order to protect the look from being removed from the door or pushed away from the door by an instrument inserted between the lower end of thedoor and the sill, 1 preferably place this locking casing upon a block 52 which is formed with brads 53 which may be forced into the floor if any attempt be made to open the door. With the casing disposed on the top of the block, pressure on the door will simply force the prongs orbrads of the block more firmly into the floor and these brads, of course, will prevent an instrument being inserted beneath the door to push the block away and push the locking device away.

I do not wish to be limitedto the number of longitudinally extending spikes which may be used, as more than two may be'used if desired, nor do I wish to be limited to making these spikes'square in cross section or of any particular form, as they might obviously be round or have any other desired form in cross section. Neither do I wish to be limited to the detailsof construction of the bell operating mechanism, as this may obviously be changed in many ways without departing from the spirit of the invention. Q

I have found in practice that the adjustable spikes or bars 39- and d0 are particularly necessary, as it is the only way in which to get equal resisting power out of thespikes orbars, and also prevents the frame or housing from being wrenched' out of shape, which, of course, would interfere with the operation of the alarm. The trigger,--it will be noted, is to avery large extenthoused entirely within the casing and thus is thoroughly protected and can in no way get out of shape. By constructing the case orhousing as described, I, do away with 'many rivets and screws and thus reduce the costof manufacturing. 7 The wooden block 52 having therein the brads 53 is particularly con venient where it is desired to leave the door partly open to admit fresh air. By placing this block back far enough from the opening of the door so that it is im )ossible for a bur glar to reach around with the hand and move the block after placing the casing on the block, the door will be held from any further movement than the desired four or five inches.

. I claim l. A safety locking device for doors comprising a supporting frame adapted to be disposed upon a door and having spikes extending longitudinally through the frame at an inclination to the horizontal, the spikes being sharpened at opposite ends and being longitudinally adjustable through the frame each independently of the other.

2. A safety locking device for doors comprising a casing having a bottom and oppositely disposed end walls, and spikes extending longitudinally through the casing and through said end walls, the spikes being disposed at an inclination to the bottom wall and having their ends sharpened, said spikes being longitudinally adjustable through the casing.

3. A combined door lock and alarm comprising a supporting frame, spikes mounted upon the frame and projecting beyond it at opposite ends. the spikes extending at an inclination to the bottom of the frame, a bell supported upon the frame, a motor spring mounted upon the frame, bell striking means operatively engaged with the motor spring and including a member oscillated by the actuation of the bell striking means, and means preventing the oscillation of said member and the actuation of the bell striln'ng means comprising a longitudinally shift-able trigger rod mounted within the frame and projectingnormally beyond the upper ends of the spikes, and a spring urging said trigger rod outward and into position to preventthe operation of the bell striking means.

4. A combined door lock and alarm comprising a supporting casing having a bottom member, spikes extending longitudinally through the casing at an inclination to the bottom member and sharpened at opposite ends. one wall of the casing being cut away, a bell disposed within the cut away portion of the wall, a motor spring disposed within the casing, bell striking means mounted within the casing and operatively connected to the motor spring, a trigger esiliently projected beyond one end of the casing and beyond the spikes and normally preventing the actuation of the bell striking means but permitting said actuation upon the inward movement of the trigger, and an operative connection between the spring and said bell whereby a rotation of the bell will wind the spring.

A safety locking device for doors comprising a supporting frame having a bottom member and an end member extending at right angles to each other, spikes disposed diagonally to the bottom and end members and supported thereby and extending beyond said members at both ends, the spikes being sharpened at opposite ends and being thereby adapted to engage a floor and a door, an alarm sounding mechanism mounted upon the frame, a longitudinally shiftable trigger rod mounted upon the frame and urged to a projected position with its end beyond said spikes, said trigger rod normally preventing the actuation of the alarm sounding mechanism but when shifted inward permitting said actuation, the spikes being longitudinally adjustable through the frame.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aiiix my signature.

ANDREW S. CUMMINGS. 

